


Making a Difference

by DreamingKate



Category: Glee
Genre: Aftermath of School Shooting Threat, discussion of suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-08
Updated: 2015-03-08
Packaged: 2018-03-16 20:40:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3502064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamingKate/pseuds/DreamingKate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Artie’s video was released, Blaine became the face of school violence.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Making a Difference

_School shootings. Many people would think of them as the focus or dramatic subplot of a teen drama but instead it is an all too real terror. Recently, a shooting scare in William McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio reminded us of how serious this threat is. We all saw the heartbreaking last words of their glee club that were recorded. Those words and those faces will forever haunt our memories._

He had watched the video a million times. The soft, sad background music and grim faces of the reporters made a heavy stone settle in the bottom of his stomach but the wide, horrified eyes staring back at him made everything slam home. 

His pale face with the words “School Shooting Awareness” underneath was on every news station, magazine, and newspaper. 

Blaine was almost afraid to go to school after the first report and aired but then his house phone was ringing off the hook. His parents tried not to let him know but he was very much aware that everyone wanted an interview with the new face of school shooting. 

The weekend passed and it became even worse. 

_How many dreams could be snuffed out? Young Blaine Anderson, a senior at McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio is a talented boy with the dream of being on Broadway. That dream could have been just that, a dream, because of school violence._

There was no teasing or sneers in the hallways. There were wide eyes and whispers as he passed, everyone too afraid to come close to him. Blaine knew that he was the sad eyed kid who could have died. 

He once wanted everyone to know his name. Not anymore. 

The awkwardness quickly morphed into anger and suddenly Blaine was overwhelmed with it. His dream wasn’t snuffed out? How many focuses of depressing news stories became famous? This would forever linger and he would never be able to escape that horrible day. 

Blaine stormed into the choir room, cutting off the chattering and stopped right in front of Artie. 

“How dare you video tape us,” he snarled and Artie looked up at him, startled. “How dare you take a moment when we all thought we were going to die and video tape it to…to…try and become famous!”

“I didn’t do that!” Artie finally found his voice. 

“Then why is my face on every channel?” He snapped. “Why does everyone call me the ‘tragic face of school shootings?’.”

“I thought maybe it would help people…”

“I had nothing to say to the camera,” Blaine felt himself shaking. “I didn’t need a camera shoved in my face. I didn’t need everyone to know how scared I was.”

“Well I did,” Unique’s voice startled them both and everyone’s head snapped towards her. 

“What?” Blaine’s voice shook. 

“Listen, I know that you hate how you think it makes you look weak but it is the greatest thing to ever happen to me. My message of hope was broadcast to people like me,” she raised her chin. “I get letters from people telling me that they are trying to make peace with who they are. I’m sorry that that moment was you at your worst…but it was the moment that I knew that my life could mean something.”

The fight and anger left Blaine, making him feel strangely empty. Unique was staring him down, her eyes bright and serious. With a shaky breath, he finally lowered his gaze. 

“I didn’t realize.”

“Transsexual and gender fluid teens are among the highest at risk for suicide. They needed a voice and I could provide it,” Unique turned to Artie. “So thank you. If those were going to be my last words I wouldn’t choose anything else.”

Blaine sighed and covered his face with his hands. “Unique…we all know that you are a great advocate but-“

“We could have died. They’re using you to illustrate an important issue. You can hide from it and hate it, or you can own it and make a difference,” she gave him a small smile. 

Maybe he could. Maybe he could speak out about school shootings and discuss their impact on him. Maybe he could get problems looked at in a more serious light. Maybe he could help people. 

“Okay,” he whispered.

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt by carojane: Here’s a prompt: Artie posts his video (w/o permission) from Shooting Star. It goes viral on net and news talking about school violence. A still of Blaine crying becomes iconic image and he’s not happy about it. ND becomes youtube famous cuz of Artie’s other vids (i pretend he films glee practice) with Blaine the fav (he’s embarrassed by the attention). He yells at Artie for shootingstar vid, but Unique says ‘speak for yourself’ because she became trans teen role model.


End file.
